Peterbilt adds online tools for MX technical support

Denton, TX. With the introduction of the proprietary Paccar MX heavy-duty diesel engine, Peterbilt Motors has rolled out an online tool to provide dealer technicians with detailed technical data and repair information as well as a software/hardware package with online links to provide easy access to a full range of vehicle diagnostics and performance data

Denton, TX. With the introduction of the proprietary Paccar MX heavy-duty diesel engine, Peterbilt Motors has rolled out an online tool to provide dealer technicians with detailed technical data and repair information as well as a software/hardware package with online links to provide easy access to a full range of vehicle diagnostics and performance data. The tools are part of a service support program that includes hands-on MX repair training in a dedicated Denton facility for both dealer technicians and sales personnel.

Service Rapido is a web-based program that gives technicians access to a wide array of technical documents, including full illustrated teardown and re-assembly instructions for all MX components. The instructions automatically provide a parts list for each specific repair, as well as a required tools list.

Peterbilt’s dealer training director Mike Arzamendi called the new system “a replacement for the old repair manual that can be updated as needed.” Not only does Service Rapido alert technicians when a procedure or part has been updated, but it can also allow them to render any engine subsystem or component in rotatable 3D illustrations with a click of the mouse, he said.

Other features of the web-based system include the ability to identify and call up exploded diagrams of any engine component simply by scrolling over an engine illustration. Parts lists generated by the repair routines can either be printed by the technician or emailed to the dealership’s parts operation. Eventually that step will be integrated with Parts Rapido, the company’s online parts management system, according to Arzamendi.

DAVIE, which stands for Diagnostic Analysis for Vehicle Interface Equipment, combines PC software with a small brick-sized box that connects a truck’s SAE 1939 data bus to the PC via a simple USB connection.

Using a simple graphical interface and pull-down menus, it allows technicians to quickly monitor MX components, read diagnostic codes, tests engine and vehicle components, program calibration codes and even change operating parameters for the new Paccar diesel. All diagnostic and performance data is saved to the vehicle’s electronic control unit as well as downloaded over an Internet connection to Paccar’s database, Arzamendi explained during a press tour of the Denton training facility.

Both Service Rapido and DAVIE can only be accessed through Peterbilt’s DealerNet web-based portal. Currently both software service tools are limited to MX engine functions, but the goal is to extend functionality of both to the entire vehicle, Arzamendi said.

Moving from virtual to physical support for the new Paccar engine, Todd Acker, Peterbilt director of marketing communications, said over 1,600 technicians have already been through the training facility, spending five days completely tearing down an MX and reassembling it. The techs are part of a joint Paccar campaign with sister-company Kenworth Trucks to assure that all of its dealers have at least two technicians trained to handle the new diesel.

“We’re already on the second and third wave of technicians from dealerships,” Acker said. “We even have some coming back for a second class to be retrained on the 2010 emissions systems.”

In addition to the hands-on training for repair personnel, the company is also bringing Peterbilt sales personnel to Denton for their own 3-day session. “Some have a technical background and others don’t, but they all tear down an MX so they have a solid understanding of its features and strengths,” said Acker. To date over 700 sales people have completed the program, he added.